The DHS has updated a solicitation originally posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website earlier this year, now answering questions from prospective contractors about an inquiry the agency published back in April. All responses to the DHS’ request for hundreds of millions of rounds of high-power ammunition must still be sent in by August 20, but now the federal agency designated to thwart terrorism on the home front has answered some questions about what exactly they are looking for in terms of being able to blow stuff up.

In April, the DHS first published a solicitation “for commercial leaded training ammunition (CLTA) of various calibers for law enforcement officer firearms training courses” to be used at facilities in the states of Georgia, New Mexico, Maryland and South Carolina, as well as other unnamed DHS offices across the country. At the time the DHS demanded hundreds of thousands of test rounds for an array of ammunition types, including 209,000 rounds of #00 buckshot 8-pellet bullets for 12 gauge guns and more than 2 million shots for a .357 Sig Caliber. With their solicitation set to expire in less than a week, though, the DHS has taken it upon themselves to answer questions from contractors interested in their very pricey proposal.

In the latest amendment, published online over the weekend, the DHS answers such pressing questions as, say, “Would a 223 Rem 64Grain soft point round be acceptable?” in response to their initial request for 1.1 million rounds of .223 Rem Caliber 62.64 Grain JHP. (And, if you’re wondering, the official DHS-authored answer is, “Yes, that would be acceptable.”)

PressTV writes about a study by Peter Tuchin titled "cliodynamics" in which scientists attempt to find meaningful patterns in history. It is possible that this may give us a clue. The article reads:

In the new study, Turchin, who reported his results in the July issue of the Journal of Peace Research, compiled historical data about violent incidents in U.S. history between 1780 and 2010, including riots, terrorism, assassinations and rampages.

The data indicates that a cycle of violence repeats itself every 50 years in America, like a wave that peaks in every other generation.

If Turchin's model is right, then the current polarization and inequality in American society will come to a head in 2020. "After the last eight years or so, notice how the discourse in our political class has become fragmented. It's really unprecedented for the last 100 years. So basically by all measures, there are social pressures for instability that are much worse than 50 years ago." LiveScience

UPDATE: From an informed reader on the subject (Thanks Mike):

LE officers of these agencies have to practice and qualify with the same round that they carry.

We want them to be proficient with these weapons, so they should be able to be practice.

The way that ammunition is bid out is generally for a five year period, with a lock-in on the price (good financial sense) and with number of rounds that is the maximum they can purchase at that price.

In reality, the seldom, if ever, purchase the maximum number of rounds allowed in the contract.

Take a small agency with, let's say, 20 officer's in the LE Inspector General (IG) office.

Let's say they practice 100 a month or 1200 rounds a year.

1200 times 20 is 24,000 rounds. Now, multiply that by 5 years and that is 120,000 rounds.

That is just for practice and qualification. They should have some extra on hand, too.

20 LE officers need 120,000 rounds?!?!? Yes, when you work out the numbers over five years.

Now, expand that to DHS — Secret Service, Coast Guard, Border Patrol, Customs and Immigration agents and more. There are ten's of thousands of them. Over five years, it would easily run into the millions of rounds.

Don't get me wrong....our government is bloated. It is not headed in direction I think it should be.